A dream of Phoebe
by Vordigan
Summary: Max was not the only one who had a dream the night before Christmas. While he was dreaming with the three spirits, Phoebe was having her own dream. Is this what she really wants? (Thundercest)
1. Merry almost Christmas!

**December 17 2014, Wednesday** **  
 **09:23 AM.****

The Holidays have arrived to Hiddenville so fast that some people hasn't realized it yet. Most people spend the whole year waiting for this season, just like the joyful Phoebe Thunderman, who right now is very concentrated with the Christmas decoration of the house. Christmas was always her favorite holiday, because she loves spending time with her family, watching all those specials on T.V., using her favorite winter clothes, and sometimes, eating some of those delicious meals that can only be tasted on these days.

Nobody knew it yet, but this year Phoebe has prepared something new for her family.

However, for Max Thunderman things were a little bit different. For him, Christmas was one of the most annoying holidays. Every year, he had to tolerate the carols, the red-green decorations, spending time with the family, the hugs, etc. Being a future villain, he simply felt he didn't fit with the celebrations, so every year he tried to ruin Christmas for his family. But somehow, all of his evil plans would be ruined, and at the end of the day, all the family would end up having a merry Christmas.

From all of them, Phoebe was always the most excited, and being in the living room decorating the Christmas tree, she couldn't do anything but smile every time she made a break to admire how beautiful it was getting. She put some other things around the living room, like a ornament wreath and some vases full with ornaments too, but without a doubt, the tree was the most important thing to do, and she had to dedicate the necessary time. That big and marvelous pine has remained in that spot since last day, after Hank flew to Metroburg to get it from one of the leafiest forests of the city, since that kind of vegetation doesn't really abound in Hiddenville.

"Yep, I need to put some ornaments over here." A concentrated Phoebe whispers, as she sees the tree very carefully.

 **07:35 AM.**

The young hero programmed the wake up alarm of her MePhone M2 at 7:00 AM, and after she got up, she ran to her bathroom to doll herself. She was on vacations and it wasn't necessary to use make up or dress as a model, so she decided to use a simple outfit with different purple tones, and she tied her hair with a braid. When she went to the living room, Hank and Barb were in the kitchen, getting ready to go out shopping. All of her siblings were still sleeping for sure.

"Good morning!" A joyful Phoebe says as she walks down the stairs.

"Hi! Good morning!" Barb answers, and then she takes her purse from the table.

"Oh, you're leaving?" She curiously asks.

"Yeah, we're going to Cost Club, we have to buy some stuff for the dinner. You need some help with the tree?" Hank replies, without being able to stop eating cookies from a jar.

"Nah I'm fine, I'll take care of the decorations, and the house. But... drive safely." Phoebe says.

Once her parents closed the main door of the house, Phoebe walked up to the attic to find all the Christmas stuff, but she decided to leave the exterior to them. Not because she couldn't do it by herself, because with her telekinesis it was easy as pie, she just liked to share those moments with her family. Besides, using her powers to do all the decorations faster, would take all the fun away, it wouldn't' be the same.

But right now, after she had all she needed in the living room, she got down to work. From the black bags she found in the attic, she took out the lights in order to cover the tree with them, but not before untangle them, which took her some time.

 **09:40 AM.**

Red, blue, pink, purple, silver, with all those colorful ornaments and candy bars, the tree was definitely reflecting the Christmas spirit. A couple hours have passed since she started covering it with all those lights, but she took a lot of time placing all the other stuff, and since she is a very attentive person, she wanted everything look perfect.

After putting the last ornaments on the branches, she couldn't be more satisfied with her work. And as she was contemplating the tree, she let out a big smile, and then she proceeded with the most important thing; light up the tree.

"Aw! you look so beautiful." Phoebe says with a sweet girly voice.

"Thank you Phoebe, you look beautiful too." She replied herself with a fake deep voice, pretending the tree was talking to her. She was unable to control her laughs.

Right now, hundreds of shining lights are covering the tree from her old home. She thought it looked cuter than in previous years. She didn't understand how people could not enjoy this celebration. She tried to stop thinking about it and continue with the other stuff.

"All right, what do we got here...?" She curiously says, taking one of the black bags.

She took out some cushions with some snowmen engraved, and then she put them on the couch, giving all the furniture a nice touch. Right after, she took one of the boxes. It was sealed with scotch tape, but she tried to open it anyway.

"Damn! I think dad was exaggerating with the tape last year." She says, a little bit annoyed.

She didn't have a cutter or scissors to cut them, but she came up with something; she could use her powers to remove the tape, and very carefully, she pointed her index finger and focused her telekinesis on one of the covered edges. She had a mental image of the tape getting ripped and a couple seconds later, she slightly moved her finger and finally the tape got ripped. She was now able to open the box, and she repeated the same process with the other boxes.

She took out some silver garlands, and then she walked to the stairs to place them on the rail. Soon by soon, she rolled all the garlands, and when the boxes were getting empty, she added some ornaments to give them a better view. She looked around and she was very happy to see how beautiful her house was looking now. She loves decorating.

 **10:37 AM.**

At that moment, she sees Nora and Billy walking down the stairs, and after they saw how the living room was looking now, they were stunned:

"Wow! Phoebe got here early." Billy says, looking around him.

"You did all this alone?" Nora asks, not being able to stop looking at the tree.

"Yep. You like it?" Phoebe replies very happy. Her smile could only grow right now.

"Sure! And I'm not gonna lose Max's expression when he see it, if he ever wakes up before afternoon." Nora says.

Right after, the girl with the red-green bow continued with her walk along with her brother, and they went to the back door, next to their garden. Phoebe got really curious after she realized her little siblings were overdressed. Its winter but it's not really cold outside, so she tried to solve her doubt:

"Oh and... why are you wearing your coats? Are you gonna play outside?" She curiously asks.

"Sort of… Billy came up with a couple ideas to have snow in Hiddenville, he wanna try them up." The little girl explains.

"A couple ideas?" The confused teenager asks.

"Yeah... I got surprised too." Nora says, provoking the appearance of a discrete smile on Phoebe's face.

The kids left the room after they ran to the garden, and once again, the teenager was alone in the house. Her parents went to the store and now her little sibling went to play outside, the only one left was her twin, Max. She stood there for a minute, next to the stairs, as though she was waiting to see him walking out of his lair, but it didn't happen. Phoebe thought he must be still sleeping. When she returned to reality, she realized that the living room was practically done, and she considered it was time to carry out her plan, so she quickly ran up to her room to get everything ready.

Once she got there, she searched inside her closet and took a little basket that she placed on her bed. Then she went to her desk and took some yellow sheets, a ballpoint pen, and a pair of scissors. She sits on the chair and proceeds to cut the sheets in 5 equal parts. When the last one was perfectly cut, she grabs the pen and begins writing something. "Barb", "Hank", "Billy", "Nora" and... "Max" That's what she wrote on the papers.

This was going to be the first Christmas they have in Hiddenville, and she knew it would be slightly different compared with the Christmas they had in her hometown, so she came up with the idea of planning a secret Santa gift exchange for the family. She just had to wait for the right moment to give out their names.

She folds the 5 little papers one by one, and then she put them inside of the basket, but after putting the last one, she hears an awkward sound coming from her closet. She approached there, and slowly opened the door. The next thing she sees is a box that fell from a shelf, but she didn't remember it, so she leaned there to open it.

"Damn I almost forgot!" She thought, after she saw what was inside of it.

She took the box and the basket, and then she ran out of her room.

 **10:53 AM.**

When she returned to the living room, she placed the little basket on the central table, and with the box in her hands, she went to the stairs again. One by one, she begins to hang all of the 5 Christmas socks of the family. All of them were very similar, they had beautiful colors and shiny sequins, and they had the name of each family member written by them. They looked similar except for Max's. His Christmas sock was a simple dirty sock, with his name written in red.

When Phoebe took her twin's sock to put it on the rail, she stood there holding it with her right hand, and she couldn't help but remember the first time they used these socks to decorate their old house form Metroburg.

 **December 24 2011, Saturday.** **  
 **04:45 PM.****

It was 3 years ago in Metroburg. That day, Barb had an idea; create Christmas socks and put them on the chimney, and for that purpose, she took the whole morning and went to the mall to buy some stuff, so everyone could make their own sock. But they had one condition for it; they had to be ready before Christmas Eve, so everyone accepted this condition, all except for Max, of course.

"Christmas socks? I refuse to be part of this silly activity." Max said, standing up from the couch and crossing his arms, after he heard the wonderful idea his mother had.

But Barb made it clear that he had no choice:

"Well, you may not be part of this 'silly activity' but guess who's gonna wash the dishes all next week?" Barb replied, with a serious tone of voice.

So, Max was forced to participate as one of them, but he definitely was going to make it his own way, and less than 2 minutes later, he was returning from his room with Barb's petition on his hands, and leaving all his family speechless the moment they saw what he brought, specially Phoebe, who couldn't stop looking at her brother since he came back to the living room.

"This...?" Barb asked, a little bit confused.

"It has my name written in red and... it's a sock right?" He challengingly said.

"All right," Barb accepted, a little bit pissed off.

The young mother's eyes couldn't believe what they were looking at, and no matter how much she wanted to deny it, it was just what she asked, so Barb had no other choice but putting his old sock on the chimney, along with the others.

 **December 17 2014, Wednesday** **  
 **11:05 AM.****

The only thing Phoebe could do, was smile after she had those heartwarming memories back on her mind, she then kept hanging the 3 remaining socks. And while she was putting the last one, she saw a pair of jingle bells inside of the box, so she grabbed them and placed the empty box on one of the steps. Once she did that, she has done with the decorations.

At that very moment, Max enters in the living room and he instantly puts his eyes on his sister.

"Oh... Merry almost Christmas!" Phoebe happily says, while ringing the bells.

"Christmas? Again?" The young villain says, visibly annoyed.

To be continued...


	2. Merry Christmas Eve!

**December 24 2014, Wednesday**

 **05:13 PM.**

A week has passed since the day Phoebe arranged the secret Santa gift exchange for her family, and now she was very happy because there's only a few hours left for Christmas. The last Wednesday, some hours after Billy threw a bucket of water all over Nora, (which was nothing more than melted snow from Mount Fuji), Phoebe went to Hidenville Galleria to get a present for her father.

It wasn't that hard to choose his gift, she already knew he needed a new wallet, after she found out a couple weeks ago that Dr. Colosso destroyed his old wallet by biting it, while being in a bunny rage attack. Phoebe was sure he would love this present. And now, that elegant wallet was on her desktop, safe and sound inside of a golden box with a green present bow on it. But it was not the only gift inside of her room, because while she was seated on her bed, she had a second present between her hands, a present that she was still wrapping.

"Just a few more tape over here and..." Phoebe says with a low voice, after she cuts more adhesive tape to join the paper.

This present was for no one else but her brother, Max. She bought it the same day she went to the mall, and she hid it inside of her closet so nobody else could see it, at least not until tomorrow.

It doesn't matter if she couldn't pick her brother's name during the gift exchange, Phoebe always used to give him something for Christmas. Not because she wanted to call for his attention, or because she wanted to bother him with the spirit of Christmas, but because being twins, she felt that deep inside her, it was something she had to do. And as she sticks more tape on the last edges of the paper, she can't take Max out of her head.

" _Why would he hate Christmas so much?_ " The adolescent seriously thought, while she was observing the present, checking it out.

Phoebe could not understand how it was possible for someone to reject this beautiful holiday, and she definitely disliked the moment when she heard Max getting happy after she called him "Scrooge" one hour ago. Unlike him, she always had a good time with her parents and her little siblings, singing together, or watching some Christmas movie marathon on T.V. but every year the same story would happen, and for some reason she couldn't help but see Max acting the same way, and she wondered, why he always tried to ruin this day to everyone, because he already did it since they were living in Metroburg.

Back then, she thought that he just liked to have fun with his classic pranks. She thought that maybe he just wanted to feel as evil as one of the super villains he admired so much, but after she heard what he said to Nora last week...

 _"You're going down Nora!"_

...she realized that she had to do something, she had to stop him somehow. So, after she placed on her bed that big box wrapped with blue paper and some yellow thunders printed on it, she found herself just there, in the middle of all the Christmas decorations she put in her room. Phoebe looked around her and then, an idea came to her mind.

Max can keep saying that he hate Christmas over and over, but she's almost sure that it's not true, that deep inside this cold and tough facade he insists to show, a very kind but insecure heart was hiding, and Phoebe was anxious to meet this Max Thunderman. She used to imagine what he would be like if he ever leaves his villain phase behind.

But after she stood up, the teenager knew exactly what she had to do. If Max was refusing to join the spirit of Christmas, then she would bring the spirit of Christmas to him. And without thinking twice, she quickly walks to her closet and takes a big cardboard box. She proceeds to put most of the decorations she placed in her room, the ones she installed since the last week. She takes off some of her colored lights, a little Christmas tree covered with all kind of decorations, a big red ornament, and some other things.

Two hours ago, Max left the house without saying where he was going. Normally, by those days he used to leave the house for a long time as the Christmas was getting closer, that's why Phoebe knew he would be out for some hours, so she had enough time to do what she planned.

 **05:42 PM.**

Having everything she needed, she took the box with both hands and then she got out of her room, but not before closing her door using her foot, because she was already using both hands. After she walked down the stairs, she passed through the living room and saw Billy and Nora were there, together in the couch watching a Christmas movie: "The Grinch", one of their favorites. They were so concentrated that they could barely notice Phoebe walked in front of them.

"If you're going to the store, can you bring some popcorns Phoebe?" Nora asks her, without stop watching the T.V.

"I think I have a bag next to the cereal box, you can make them if you want." The teenager says.

"Thanks Phoebe!" Billy says, very happy.

"Yeah, thanks Phoebe. Billy, you're up." The girl with the bow adds.

In a blink of an eye, Billy runs with his super speed to the kitchen and puts the popcorn bag in the microwave. He did it so fast that Nora didn't had to pause the movie and stop him from losing some scenes, in an instant he's back in the living room, but he also brings a big wind burst behind him.

"Billy! Slow down!" Nora complains, after she felt the cold wind of his speed.

"Sorry." Billy says, apologizing.

Phoebe couldn't help but laugh after she saw her little siblings getting along, and after a moment she continues with her mission, and walks down to Max's lair. When she got there, she placed the box on the floor in order to open the door and get the lights on. She lifts the box again and carefully walks down the stairs. She goes to Max's bed and she finally put the cardboard container on it. She then begins to take some of the things out of it.

 **05:55 PM.**

Her plan was very clear; decorating her twin's lair with all kind of cute things. She was sure that she could make Max join the spirit of Christmas. And being in the middle of his room, she looked around and took a deep breath.

" _All right, I think I'm gonna start with... this._ " Phoebe thought, before deciding what she would do first.

Right after, she takes the Christmas lights and using a chair, she got up to place them from one side of the room to the other. She was very careful doing this, because she had nothing to hold on to, or someone to help her, so she had to keep her balance to avoid falling. But anyway, being an excellent ballerina is was not a problem for her. When she finished with the lights, she left the chair where she found it, and then she walked to the bed to take more stuff. But all of a sudden, she hears a voice behind her, which took her by surprise:

"Well, well... looks like we have an intruder around here." Dr. Colosso says, with a challenging tone of voice.

He was observing her moves, while sitting on the metallic table that Max regularly uses to make his experiments.

"Oh, hi Colosso, I'm just bringing some of the spirit of Christmas to this place." She commented, as she takes a rolled paper from the box.

"You can't put all this things here, villains don't celebrate Christmas." The evil bunny replies.

"I know, and that's terrible because everybody love Christmas. But maybe if I put all this things around here, Max will change his mind." Phoebe states.

"Well, I'm sorry but I can't let you do that." Colosso replies, teasing Phoebe.

"So what? Is a bunny gonna stop me?" Phoebe sarcastically asks.

"I can try." Colosso says.

And just when he was about to walk across the table, Phoebe moves her hand to use her telekinesis to throw the rabbit inside of his cage, and right after, she makes a second move to lock the little door.

"Max won't like this" Colosso warns her, inside of his cage.

"I'm sure he will love it" She says, very convinced with her idea.

Once she got rid of the annoying ex-villain, Phoebe continues with the decorations. She carefully unfolds the rolled paper with her hands, and then she goes to the stairs to cover the rail with it, and with this red-white color, it looked like a candy bar. She placed the big red ornament on his desk, and then she could finally start with the last decoration she brought, the little tree which she spent so much time decorating in her room, last week.

So, Phoebe took the box again and walked to those artificial rocks that Max had inside of his lair. She takes out the little tree and place it on one of the flat rocks, but before doing anything else, she makes sure that it won't fall later in the night. While doing it, Phoebe couldn't fade the smile on her face, it's like if being decorating her brother's room was making her happy somehow, and maybe even more than when she did the same in the living room. She hadn't noticed yet, but her heartbeats had grown since she began with this.

Some moments later, she plugs the lights in the closest connection and the little tree was ready. The only thing inside of the box was some empty presents that could make the pine look like a real size one.

"Perfect!" A smiley Phoebe exclaims, as she watches her doing, very satisfied.

With nothing else to do, she took the box again, and right after she faces the evil bunny, just to say:

"So Colosso, what do you think?" She asks very proud of herself.

"It looks like I entered an improvised Santa's workshop." Colosso responds joking about it, and provoking an annoyed reaction on her.

"Oh, I think I missed something, wait..." She says, after she noticed something weird.

In an instant, she points her finger to one of the sides where the Christmas lights are placed across the room, and after a short movement, she telekinetically plugs the cable to the wall, turning on the lights very quickly. Then, she faces the ex-villain again.

"And now?" She joyfully asks.

"A lighting improvised Santa's workshop." The bunny sarcastically says.

"Very funny. Well, I think my work is done here. Enjoy the atmosphere." Phoebe replies walking by the stairs.

"Hey wait! At least you could freeze me until tomorrow and I won't have to bear this! Come back here!" Dr. Colosso desperately yells inside of his cage.

"I can't hear you. Good bye!" Phoebe replies from the room's door, just before closing it behind her.

 **06:43 PM.**

When Phoebe walked up to living room, she noticed Billy and Nora were gone. Her parents were nowhere to be found. She supposed Hank and Barb would be in their room watching some T.V. before dinner, and maybe her little siblings were outside right now, trying Billy's idea again; having snow in Hiddenville using his snow dance. She thought it was very funny and she was smiling with the mental image of her younger siblings dancing on the garden. After all her laughs, she took a seat in the couch and turned the T.V. on.

She began surfing through the channels for some time, but she couldn't find something she really liked.

"Titanic? Transformers? Where are the Christmas specials?" She asked herself without ending with the zapping.

When she reached the last channels, she could find a movie that she really loved, which she hadn't seen since a long time. The movie was "A Carol Christmas", with Tori Spelling. After she found that channel, she left the remote next to her, she hugged herself to a cushion and now she was ready to enjoy the movie, and luckily for her, they were showing the starting scenes.

About an hour has passed and during the commercials, Phoebe went to the kitchen for a moment. She was trying to get some snacks. She looked inside of the cupboards, but she couldn't find anything she wanted.

"Damn! There are no Brussels sprouts." She says with a low voice, and she keeps looking there.

Some minutes later, she looked inside of the last cupboard and she found some unopened jelly jams, so she took them immediately and got back to the living room. She was just in time for the movie, and now she could eat those delicious desserts while watching all the weird adventures of "Carol" the night before Christmas.

 **07:15 PM.**

There's only 10 minutes left for the movie to end, and Hank, Barb, Billy and Nora were now in the kitchen, getting ready for Christmas Eve dinner. But all of a sudden, Phoebe hears a noise at the door, and some seconds later, she sees Max entering the house. He spent a considerable amount of time outside, but he definitely hadn't the permission to miss the family dinner. Phoebe knew what will happen next; Max will finish with his food before all of them, and then he would go to his lair to sleep, in a desperate attempt to try to skip the festivities.

"Hi Max! Are you ready for Christmas?" Phoebe asks, smiling.

"Stop torturing me 'Dweebie' I'm just here for dinner." Max replies with a bad mood.

Phoebe smiled again with his comment, and kept watching the movie. Some moments later, Barb called them for the family dinner, so Phoebe turned the T.V. off and joined to them at the kitchen. Max followed her.

Everything went normal, everyone had something to tell during the diner. Everyone except but Max, because all the time he remained very quiet, trying to ignore what they were saying. Phoebe was seated next to him, and sometimes she secretly looked at him. She couldn't stop thinking why he had to act like this. She would be very happy if he could only join to the festivities, if he could only be more open about his feelings. Sometimes, she kept staring at him for so long, and when Max turned to his left to face her, she quickly escaped from his eyes. This happened several times.

 **09:40 PM.**

And as if she could see the future, things happened exactly as Phoebe thought, Max finished with his food before anyone else could, he then stood up to leave to his lair.

"Well, I think I'm done. Good night." Max says, and right after, he turned around and walked to the living room.

While he was walking to his slide, everyone said good night to him. Once he got there, he pressed the button to open the door and slide down, but for some reason, he changed his mind and decided to walk down the stairs. At that very moment, Phoebe stood up from her sit very quickly, and went to the slide. She remained there for a moment, just waiting. But the family did not understand what she was doing there, so, Barb walked to her.

"Phoebe, what are you...?" Barb tried to ask, a little curious for her daughter's attitude.

"Hold on mom..." Phoebe told her, anxious to listen to her brother.

And finally, some seconds later, she heard his door opening, and as fast as a thunder, Phoebe could hear the voice of her twin:

"Stay out of my lair!" He yelled from that place, obviously annoyed.

"Good night! Merry Christmas Eve!" She replies, very happy.

To be continued...


	3. Am I dreaming?

**December 24 2014, Wednesday** **  
 **10:31 PM.****

Some seconds after the closing credits for the Christmas special of All Grown Up!, Phoebe was still seated on the couch. Her parents and siblings went to their rooms some time after the dinner ended, but she wanted to stay and watch some T.V. before going to sleep. That's how she found the special of one of her favorite shows of her childhood. In an instant, she remembered when she was a little girl and used to spend her afternoons watching to this cartoon with her brother Max.

Back then, Billy and Nora hasn't even born yet, so beside their parents, they only had each other. Definitely, the twins were very close in the past.

Phoebe smiles with this memory and without further delay, she turns off the T.V. and stood up, leaving the remote on the couch. She sees the screen of her phone for a second and realizes that it's past 10, so she decides it's time to sleep. Decorating Max's lair was not the only thing she did, she did lots of other things during the day and now she's very tired, so after moving the switch with her telekinesis, the lights of the living room went off, leaving her in a complete darkness.

And then she walks to her room very carefully, lighting her path using the flash of her cell phone. The whole house was so quiet, and as she walks through the hallway that separates her room from her parent's, she could only hear the soft sound of her boots with every step she takes. When she finally gets to her room, she slowly opens the door and walks inside without making any noise. She didn't want to wake them up.

 **10:43 PM.**

Inside of her room, it seemed like it was even darker than in the outside. She walks to her night table and lights up her lamp, and right after, her room was illuminated with a warm light, enough to stop using her phone. The light of her lamp was very soft but it was all she needed to change her clothes. She set aside her cute attire of a white sweater with black lines and blue jeans, and then she put on her pajamas, which consisted of a red sweater, and green sweatpants with some Santa Claus printed on them. A gift Barb gave her last year.

Once she was ready and all sleepy, Phoebe lied down on her bed and used a couple sheets to cover up herself. Then, she extended her arm to put her cell phone on her night table and turned off the lamp, letting the darkness cover her room again. Outside of the house, it was getting very cold, so she took her favorite pillow and cuddled to it, trying to get some warm from it and have a better sleep for the night.

But a couple seconds later, something made her concentrate her look on the window next her bed. She unconsciously let out her pillow, and got astonished with what she just saw outside. Up in the sky, she could see a big full moon.

"Wow! It looks beautiful!" Phoebe whispered, watching the moon very carefully.

She cuddled to her pillow again and kept watching at the astronomical event. This night the sky was all clear and there were just a few stars up there, so watching the moon in the middle of the night was very easy at this point. She stays like that for some minutes, just watching at the moon and smiling in silence, stunned by its magnificent. But without her knowing, Max suddenly returned to her thoughts.

She asked herself how it was possible for him to still sticking to his villain phase. She always thought that Max has a good heart, and he just needs people to get close to him in order to understand him. She never believed he could become a cruel super villain. She always has supported him no matter how many times he has disappointed her, but sometimes Phoebe had her doubts, she didn't know if it was enough for him.

In front of the others, she pretends she likes to fight him, but she would never confess it's actually scary for her to think that Max can become a dangerous villain she'll have to stop in the future. She even had nightmares about it, and the most awful are the ones where Max turns against her and joins to other villains to fight her and her family. Sometimes, she used to wake up very startled, and with her eyes full with tears.

Phoebe turns to her left and stopped watching at the moon. She then wished with all her strengths that this day never come. She would be so broken if her own twin betrays her and turn his back on her, because that day her worst nightmare would become true. But Phoebe tried to stop thinking about it, and preferred to imagine what he would be like if he accepted his life as a hero, and join to her to fighting crime. Without of a doubt, nothing would make her so happy than fight next to him, both with their capes and with their powers fully developed. She could almost see it.

And as she cuddles to her pillow even more, with this small illusion playing inside of her mind, a beautiful smile was drawn on her face, as she thinks:

" _If you only were different..._ "

And then, she slowly closes her eyes, falling into a deep sleep. Some seconds later, a shooting star was visible through her window, until it got lost in the middle of the sky.

 **December 25 2014, Thursday** **  
 **07:15 AM****

In the morning, Phoebe was still sleeping silently in her room. She looked so calmed that she seemed to have a small sign of the smile she slept with last night. But all of a sudden, her sleep was interrupted when she heard some noises at the distance. She took a couple seconds to be awake completely and realize that these noises were not part of a dream and they were real, so when she seated on her bed, she put more attention to these sounds and she could hear something that sounded like jingle bells.

She stood up from her bed really quick, put on her green boots and walks out her room to find out where this jingle bells were coming from. When she got out of there, she sees Hank and Barb walking out of their room. She was supposing all the noise has wake them up, but unlike her, her parents were not looking worried or nervous for what was happening. Actually they were very happy.

"What is this? Who's making all those noises?" She asks Barb, unknown of the situation.

"Who do you think?" She replies smiling.

"Come on Phoebe, run." Hank adds, taking Barb's hand.

They keep walking through the hallway and Phoebe was left alone, with an awkward expression. Soon after, Billy and Nora walked out their rooms to join them. She notices they were all happy, just like their parents, and at the distance she could only hear Billy saying:

"Run Phoebe! You're losing the figgy pudding!"

"Figgy pudding? I didn't made figgy pudding." Phoebe thought, a little confused.

After that, she continued walking and finally arrives to the stairs. And as she walks down, she got shocked with what she saw there.

"Get down here sleepyheads! It's Christmas!" Max exclaims all encouraging and right after, he hugs Billy and Nora.

Max Thunderman was next to the Christmas tree, dressed with a green suit and shaking some jingle bells as hard as he could.

"Merry Christmas my beautiful family!" He says to everyone, non stop smiling.

And then he set aside the jingle bells and takes a dish with something on it.

"Guess who made figgy pudding?" He asks them, after tasting it with his finger.

"I want some pudding!" Billy says, almost yelling of excitement.

Now, everyone was in the living room waiting for Phoebe, and after walked down the stairs, she put her eyes on Max's, and her expression could not reflect more than confusion, after seeing what she had in front of her. Especially when Max smiled at her, and extended his arms saying:

"Merry Christmas Pheebs!"

She was still very confused, she didn't understand why was Max acting like this. She was unsure if she had to get closer and give him a hug, or keep her distance because she genuinely thought he was plotting a prank. She doubts for some seconds ant they felt like infinite for her. But then, Max centers his attention on her face and asks her:

"What's wrong Pheebs? Don't you have a hug for your twin?"

And after hearing his question, Phoebe walks to him very slowly, and gives him a hug. But being with him like this, Phoebe was feeling something unknown for her. She didn't remember the last time she was this close to Max, with her arms around his neck. Normally after a hug, he would put some distance between them, pull off her hair annoyingly, or he would play a cruel prank on her, but not this time. This time, it was a warm twin hug.

Phoebe couldn't help but feel a little awkward while hugging him, but as she felt his arms around her waist, little by little, all of her worries were vanishing, and now she was feeling more comfortable with him. However, since the minute she got close to him, the rush of her heartbeats hasn't decrease yet, not even a little.

"Merry Christmas, Max" Phoebes says, very happy.

She didn't know how much time did their hug last, but when they were finally separated, something inside her was questioning if she was seeing something more, maybe a well planned prank of him. It was impossible for him to wake up so early just to make some figgy pudding and say merry Christmas to the family, or even hugging her without Barb asking him first.

"What are you guys waiting for? Let's open our gifts!" Max says as he takes some of the boxes from the Christmas tree, giving out the presents.

Phoebe was still in shock, one week ago he told her that he will fight Christmas as long as he lived, and now he was in front of them, giving out their presents, and dressed as one of Santa's elves, and the weirdest part is that she seemed to be the only one to notice something was wrong with Max, the rest of them was acting like nothing was happening.

Now everybody was opening the gifts, very excited, but Phoebe stayed with her present on her knees. Her eyes could hardly believe what they were witnessing, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop watching him. He didn't realize it because he's concentrated with the presents of the family. Barb couldn't be happier with the blue scarf Nora gave her, Hank loved the wallet Phoebe brought for him, Billy could not stop smiling after seeing the videogame he gave to himself, and Max draw a big smile on his face when he found out that Barb gave him a black beanie hat.

"Thanks mom." Max says to Barb, after seeing the gift.

"Oh, you welcome sweetie." She replies.

All this time, Phoebe was looking at Max's reactions every time they opened a present, and she couldn't believe it. But after seeing how happy he was when he opened his gift, that was what surprised her the most. She was so shocked that it was very hard for her to hide all the doubts that were crossing through her mind, and her face was betraying her. Suddenly, she hears the voice of her twin, breaking out her thoughts:

"Phoebe, why don't you open your gift? Are you okay?" Max asks her as he gets close to her, and after that, he puts his right hand on her forehead, fearing she could have fever.

The mere contact of his hand with her face was making her heart rush again, like it did some time ago. Max has never shown this worrying attitude before, and that made her nervous.

"Yeah... yeah I'm fine..." She replies, trying to focus on what she was saying.

Soon after, Phoebe proceeded to open her gift, and once she exposed the content of that cute silver box, she took a pair of pointe shoes, her dad's present. That made her really happy because after a whole year practicing at her ballet class, she already needed a new pair. There's no doubt she would give them the proper use.

The only one left was Nora, so after Phoebe thanked Hank for his present, she begins to open her gift. Fearing the worst, Phoebe was looking at her little sister a little worried, because she didn't forget the threat that Max gave her one week ago. But all of her worries disappeared when she sees the content of that beautiful Christmas box. The little girl takes out a cushion with the form of a bow.

"Thanks Max!" The girl exclaims, just before running to him to give her brother a hug.

"You welcome Nora. But now, why don't we go outside to make some snowmen?" Max says, with encouragement.

"Snowmen? But there's no..." Nora tries to say.

And then, everyone turned to the side door of the house, just to see that it was snowing, which took them by surprise, and without double thinking, they stand up and run to the garden to play with the snow together. They all left the house, except for the twins.

" _Am I dreaming?_ " Phoebe thought, while seeing her family playing at the garden.

That would be the only explanation, but after seeing how happy they were, Phoebe left her doubts and concerns behind and tried not think about it. She still not knows the reason of Max's sudden change. She didn't have any idea if this was part of a Christmas miracle and Max finally decided to show the good heart she always knew he had, or maybe everything was just a dream. Actually she doesn't care anymore; she loves this new Max Thunderman.

That's was she was thinking because all of a sudden, someone takes her hand and made her feel like the time has stopped.

"Are you coming Pheebs?" Max asks her, as he gives her the best of his smiles.

"Yes." She replies, getting a little flush for the sudden action of her brother.

Some moments later, everyone was at the garden, playing with the snow together like there's no tomorrow. They did everything, they built two big snowmen with the help of Hank and Barb, the kids made some snow angels on the floor, and they even joined to a little war of snowballs, with telekinesis and everything, but it ended with two Mrs. Wong's garden gnomes broken.

"Don't worry Mrs. Wong, I'll pay for them." Max assures her, from the wall of their garden.

Phoebe was stunned after hearing her brother's words, she even pinched on her arm a couple times, just to see if she was dreaming, but everything seemed to be real. Without of a doubt, she could get used to this.

To be continued...


	4. Twin gift

**December 25 2014, Thursday  
** **06:38 PM.**

It's a fresh and very quiet evening in the suburbs. The snow that Max gave to his family using the machine he built to freeze the water supply, was still out there covering the whole city, no matter what the news said before. No one could say that there wasn't a good Christmas in the Thundermans house. This day everything went better than Phoebe expected, even if she thought she was having a weird dream last night, in which Max tried to steal all the Christmas decorations and presents from the house. But now, she was sure that he would never do something like that.

Phoebe was trying to remember the last time they had a Christmas all together and happy, but she couldn't. When she saw with her own eyes that her brother was dressed as one of Santa's elves smiling and hanging out with the family, she could hardly believe it. He even gave a nice gift for Nora and baked some figgy pudding for everyone. He looked like a completely different person.

Without a doubt, Phoebe was still surprised with the "new Max Thunderman" but some hours ago, she decided to stop thinking about why he was acting like that, and preferred to focus on enjoying the day with her family. She didn't even care to think if he was just temporary changing due to holidays, or if he was truly changing his life. One way or another, seeing Max all nice and caring with his family, was making her very happy. It was something she wanted so much since a long time ago.

Now the whole family was at the kitchen's table, playing Monopoly. Almost 4 hours has passed since they installed the board and none of them seemed bored yet , specially Max, and much to Phoebe's surprise, now he had all the chances of winning, something weird for her because most of the times, she commonly win in this game. But in less than two hours, Max has bought almost every property on the game, and the money in his bank account was rising up to the sky. Normally, he wouldn't be playing with them, he used to say that he wasn't that good but now he looked like an expert. Besides, Phoebe had the impression that he was holding his abilities. Once again, no one thought this was weird.

"Max, stop torturing us. You can buy all the properties left and win the game." Billy says a little disappointed.

"Of course not Billy, everything can happen. If Phoebe gets a double 6 she could buy them and things can change. This is not over yet." Max replies, while analyzing the board.

"Just keep an eye on ThunderGirl, to see if she's not using her telekinesis to move the dices." Nora says without stop looking at Phoebe, after she took the dices to throw them.

"Nora! Phoebe would never do that." Max states, and right after he turned to face her and with a soft smile, he says: "Isn't that true twinnie?" making her nervous as she lowers her eyes.

"No... no, of course not." She answers smiling back, but trying to escape from his sight.

 **7:05 PM**

The game lasted for 1 more hour, and just like they previously guessed, the ultimate winner was no one else but Max. After Barb, Hank, Nora and Billy fell into bankrupt, Phoebe managed to recover some of her money, and she stayed there for some time, but she couldn't defeat the financial empire that Max has built with his properties. At the end, she lost as well.

"Well it looks like Max has won. Very good son, thanks for having mercy this time." Hank congrats him, as he begins to put the board and all the other pieces in the box.

"Yeah, I love playing with my family, and well... what can I say? if Monopoly were real life, I'd possibly be the richest men in the world, and maybe Trump would be my butler." He says in a joking tone of voice, standing up from his chair.

"If you were the richest man, you would have planned something to take over the world right?" Phoebe said, staring right at him, not being able to hide her smile.

"Take over the world? Who do you think I am Pheebs? A villain or what?" He sarcastically asks, and after that he turned around to take an apple from a basket and take a bite of it.

Phoebe could not find the proper words, his answer didn't sound like something he would say. Changing his path knowing he was wrong, and acting like if he never wanted to be evil, were two different things. The confusion on her face was very clear because a couple years ago, he was still saying that he wanted to become the greatest villain of all times, but now, he seemed like he didn't care at all. She hadn't realized it yet, but Max and her little siblings has left the kitchen. She had been thinking deeply for some seconds, until Barb's voice brought her back to reality:

"Phoebe, while I prepare dinner, can you please go to the mailbox and bring the letters?" She says while she takes everything she needs for Christmas dinner.

"Uhmm... yeah, sure." She replies, with difficulty.

Right away, Phoebe walked to the entrance and crossed the door. She walked through the yard till she found herself in front of the house. Once she was there, she took out all the letters from the mailbox, and took a look on some of them but the snow was still falling, so she rushed to get back to the house. When she walked in the living room, Hank was watching T.V. and Barb was dealing with the dinner. She thought her siblings were gone to their rooms, so she went to see her dad, and taking one of the letters, she says:

"Hey Dad look, Aunt Maggie has sent us a letter. I bet she has good news about my clone and Colosso's."

"That's great, can I see the letter?" Hank asks without moving from his favorite armchair.

Phoebe put the letter in his hands and after that, she placed the rest of the correspondence in the room table. But after remembering her clone thanks to Aunt Maggie's letter, she begins thinking about Max, once again, and she realized that there were past 7 and she hadn't gave the Christmas present to him. The present she hide in her closet last night. So without thinking twice, she quickly goes to her room to take it and personally give it to him.

A couple minutes later she was walking out of her room with the box in her hands, and she walked down the stairs very fast. She was anxious to see her twin's reaction as soon as she opened the gift.

 **7:18 PM**

Once she got to the living room, Phoebe walked near the kitchen and it was impossible for Barb not to see the present she was carrying, and she couldn't hide her curiosity:

"Is that your twin gift?" Barb asks, as she sees her daughter with a smile.

Phoebe always used to call the present she gave to Max every Christmas "twin gift", even if he never give anything back to her, she didn't care about it. Regardless, every year she was still secretly hoping that her true show of affection could finally be reciprocal, one day.

"Yeah, I hope he'll like it." Phoebe says, lowering her gaze.

"He'll love it sweetie, and I'm sure you'll love his gift too. Really, I swear sometimes you seem like you read each other's mind." She answers, turning around to take a look on the oven.

After hearing her mother's words, Phoebe didn't know what to say, because she couldn't understand what she meant when she said all the 'mind reading' thing. She knew better than anyone that Max never gave her anything, but she wasn't feeling good to talk about the hurting details, and she only tried to know one more thing:

"Is Max in his lair?" The teenager asks.

"Well... yeah, he said he would be down there but... Lair? You think your brother has turned into a villain or something?" Barb says, almost laughing after Phoebe's insinuation.

At that very moment, Phoebe realized that every time she says something related to Max, she notices some inconsistencies. She wasn't sure why everyone seemed to forget about his old intentions. But just like she did in the morning, she tried to ignore what was happening, and she just pressed the button for the slide's door. Once it's opened, she threw herself while holding Max's present with her bare hands.

 **7:20 PM**

After sliding down, she finally arrived at the lair and landed on Max's bed, but she threw herself with such strength that she lost control and rolled a couple times until she fell. However, she didn't touch the floor because in a split second, someone stopped her from falling. Max was near the bed and after seeing his sister was in danger, he reacted just in time and rushed to catch her. Now she's safe and sound in his arms.

"Phoebe, are you okay?" Max asks her, very worried.

"Yeah... yeah I'm fine. Thank you." She replies, not being able to stop looking at his eyes.

For a second, she almost forgot why she walked down there, and when she could finally move, she nervously tried to get down from his lap. Max understood what she was trying to do and put her down immediately. Suddenly, Phoebe had an awkward feeling but she tried to ignore it and focus on what she had to say.

"I... came here to give you this present." She says trying to get rid of her anxiety.

But after seeing her hands, Phoebe could realize that she didn't have the present anymore, because after she her falling, it rolled across the floor and stopped in the middle of the room. She spotted it by the artificial rocks, and walked there to grab the box, and then she put the box in Max's hands.

"Merry Christmas Max, I... dropped it when I fell off, sorry." She explained, a little ashamed.

"Thanks Pheebs... and don't worry, you're okay that's all that matters." He says, making Phoebe's heart skip a beat after hearing what he just said. This concerned side was completely new.

Right after, Max begins to open his gift, without stop smiling while doing it. He took off the red present bow and removed the tape to unwrap the paper. Once he opened the box, his smile has grown after seeing the content of the box. There was a black leather jacket inside of it.

"Wow! It's awesome Pheebs! I love it!" He excitedly says.

"I'm glad you like it. But... put it on." The girl suggests him, as she helps him with the box.

Max has the jacket in his hands, and he carefully watches it, just before unfolding it. Some seconds later he was now using his new jacket, and he couldn't be happier with it. It was his exact size.

"Max you look so... good." Phoebe said, unsecure of the words she was pronouncing.

For a short second she was about to tell him "you look so hot" but she managed to realize it, just in time to say something else. Phoebe could not understand why she was getting so nervous in Max's presence. She had experienced this in the past, but not like this.

"Thank you Pheebs. Uhmm... I guess it's my turn." He said, and after that, he goes to his desk and from a drawer, he takes an elegant black box with a grey bow on it. He hands it to his sister, as he says with a big smile: "Merry Christmas Phoebe."

She sees the little box he gave her, and for some reason she didn't doubt of his kindness. A sincere smile was drawn on her face. This Christmas, she wasn't expecting any presents from Max. Normally he won't give a present to her, but this day he seemed so different. It was like Max was finally showing the side she always wanted to see. And when she looked directly at him again, he quickly say:

"Come on! Open it!" Max says, very enthusiastic.

Then, Phoebe takes off the top of the box, and what she saw there, left her speechless. There was a necklace with a small gold pendant with a 6 letter word "PHOEBE". The young hero could hardly say a single word after this, and she could only make her smile grow after seeing the cute gift he was giving to her.

"Max thank you so much! It's perfect!" She said when she could finally speak.

"I'm glad that you liked it." Max replies very happy, after seeing her reaction.

None of them had realized it yet, but after that, they stayed just right there, looking at each other for several seconds. It was like if they were waiting for the other to do something. But suddenly, Phoebe breaks the silence:

"Can you help me with it?" She excitedly asks him, as she hands him the necklace.

"Of course Pheebs." Max replies, taking the necklace form her hands at the same time.

Right after, she turned around and took her hair with both hands. She placed it on her left shoulder to help him with his task. Max put his hands around her neck to buckle the necklace, but in the meantime, it gave Phoebe the chills with the simple contact of his hands on her neck. She felt Max was strangely close to her and she was even more confused. Especially when she thought she was feeling his breath against her skin, very softly.

"Okay, It's ready." Max says, after buckling the collar.

Phoebe turned to face him, but Max didn't move from his position, so they ended up face to face, with a few inches between them, which got Phoebe very nervous, and she quickly took a step behind, putting some distance from him.

"So... how do I look like?" Phoebe asks with a soft smile.

"Well, just like you said, perfect." He replies, as he looks directly in her eyes.

But before she know it, Phoebe got really blush after she heard what he said, but no matter how much she tried, this time she couldn't escape from his eyes. They stood there, just staring at each other, it was like if there was some kind of strange force that was calling for them, keeping them close to each other, and barely able to move. At that very moment, they heard someone calling them from behind:

"Max, Phoebe... dinner's ready." Barb says, as she opens the room's door.

To be continued...


	5. Maybe in another life

**December 25 2014, Thursday  
7:34 PM**

After they heard their mother's voice getting closer, they instinctively got separated as fast as they could, and once Barb entered the room to tell them dinner was ready, the twins were some feet away from each other, pretending they were just curiously watching their gift boxes. In just a few seconds, a strange tension was growing inside of the room, a tension that Barb did not seem to perceive yet.

"I see you just gave your twin gift, right?"Barb asks, as she looks at them resting against the door frame. She was so happy for them that she encouragingly says: "Oh my wittle twinsies! I love seeing you so close!"

After that, she joyful woman turns around and walks back to finish serving dinner. But as soon as she gets out of there, the innocent comment their mother said provoked an involuntary laugh on Max and Phoebe. They used to get a little embarrassed every time she talk to them like babies, considering they were 16. But it wasn't so annoying.

At that moment, they could hear Barb saying at the distance:

"Don't take so long or dinner will get cold!" Barb yells from the hallway.

"We're coming, mom!" Max replies, rising up his voice.

The tension between them seemed to have disappeared, but they didn't take so much to be staring at each other again, just like they did some time ago, and worst, without even saying a single word.

In circumstances like this, Max would have said a stupid comment, or he would just ignore her by walking up to the kitchen for dinner, but not this time. Phoebe's nerves were getting back, and looking at her twin directly at his dark brown eyes, less than 3 feets away from her, weren't really helping. She could almost see her own reflection on them.

She was a little anxious by now, and couldn't understand why he was so calmed; he even gave her a smile while they keep looking at each other. She was beginning to think something weird has been happening to him. No matter how much he could've changed recently, there's no way he could be so nice to her, at least not since they were kids. All this thoughts were flying through her mind but suddenly, he breaks the silence:

"We should go up there. We can talk about this later Pheebs." Max states and smiles at the end. She didn't remember when he gave her a smile like that. But the special way he was staring at her, almost let her breathless.

"Y... yeah... sure." She hardly tries to say.

Right after, they went to the stairs in order to leave his room, but as Phoebe walks on them, she couldn't help but pay attention to his lair. Due to the confusing moments they had since she got down there, she hasn't realized that there were more Christmas decorations than the ones she brought yesterday. She thought that he must have been setting up everything else, thanks to his sudden spirit of Christmas, so she downplayed importance to it, and continued walking next to him.

But before she could get out, Phoebe noticed something was missing, or rather, someone was missing. She looked everywhere but she couldn't find Max's best friend:

"Where is Colosso?" She thought, and then she stops behind Max.

He was now opening his door, but before taking a step out, he turns to face her and stood aside to let her walk first, indicating the path to her with his arm extended.

"Ladies first." He says without stop looking at her chocolate-brown eyes.

"Uhmm... thanks." The teenager says, astonished by his kind attention.

She couldn't remember the last time she saw Max being this kind to her, she didn't imagined he could do this, not even in her best dreams. But before she could realize, his kindness made her feel like one of those girls from the romantic movies she loved to watch every weekend. But more than anything, he made her feel special.

"I could definitely get used to this." Phoebe thought as she walks out of the lair, all smiley.

 **7:38 PM**

They walk to the living room together, and they could see everyone's at the table now, while Barb finishes serving dinner, so they rush to get there. They passed by the statue they use to hide the family picture from the visitors, and for some reason, Phoebe looked at it and something captured her attention immediately.

The picture seemed to be an updated version, it was similar to the old one but the only difference was that she and her twin were using their own cape from the Hero League, just like their parents. Everyone was smiling to the camera, including Max. Phoebe was thinking about it, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't find any explanation for it, so she decided to ask someone who must be as confused as her; Max.

She was about to do it but, since everyone was ready for dinner; she came to the conclusion that she had to wait.

 **8:02 PM**

At the table, there were only two available places, so Max and Phoebe seated right there, together. She wasn't feeling bad next to him, actually, she was feeling so comfortable with him, because they usually take separated seats at the table, but this time, she finally felt they were getting along, just like they used to, when they were kids.

During dinner, everyone looked so happy sharing all these family moments, and for a second, Phoebe completely forgot about the weird details she saw on the family picture. Everyone loved eating Barb's turkey, it was a pre-cooked turkey but, it didn't prevent Hank from taking 3 more rations.

"Well, it's not like my meaturduckbalizza but, it works." Hank said, after he made a short pause, and right after he kept eating.

Everyone was laughing after hearing his funny comment, but when Max extended his arm to take more water, he accidentally rubbed his hand with Phoebe's, making her stop her laugh instantly, which gave her the chills, even with the cute white sweater she was using right now.

Thanks to this fortuite touch with her twin, Phoebe remembered what she wanted to ask him about the family picture so, in an attempt for ending with the dinner, she begins to eat a little faster. No one seemed to realize about this, except for Max, who was looking out the corner of his eyes, not knowing what to say.

 **8:14 PM**

Soon after, Phoebe's attempts worked, now his dish was completely empty. Finally, she will be able to find out what happened with the old picture, so without further ado, she stood up.

"Thanks mom. Everything was delicious." Phoebe says as she takes her dish from the table.

"Yeah, delicious as always." Max suddenly agrees with her, and later he stood up and repeated his sister's actions.

"Thank you Max, Phoebe." Barb replies very pleased with her children's comments.

Phoebe turns to face him really fast, and the second they found with each other's eyes, he gives her a smile and Phoebe smiles him back, with all her sweetness. Nobody noticed this. Right after, the teenager went to the dishwasher.

"What a coincidence, right Pheebs? We finished eating at the same time, like when we were kids." He says to his sister as they put everything in the dishwasher.

"Yeah uhm... well... Max I wanted to talk to you, it's important." She says in a serious tone of voice, as they walk through the living room together.

"Funny, me too but... you first." He replies.

"Okay. Do you know what happened with the..." She tried to ask him but she couldn't end her question, because all of a sudden, an awkward sound came out of her mouth.

*hiccup*

"What?" Max asked.

"No, listen... *hiccup*" Phoebe tries to say, but it happened again.

"What was that?" He asks, involuntary laughing.

"No Max, I'm serious! *hiccup*" She replies a little annoyed.

"Oh... Do it again, that's a cute sound! Again! Again!" Max said, trying to bother her.

"You're such a... *hiccup* ...moron Max!" She hardly tries to say. She couldn't stop it.

Unfortunately for her, she provoked herself the hiccups after eating faster during dinner, and now she could barely talk to Max. In the other hand, he was joking about it, and every time the awkward but cute sound came back after several seconds, he laughs of it.

"You know what Max...? Forget it." She firmly says and after that, she turns around and walks to the stairs.

All of a sudden, the old Max Thunderman seems to get back and Phoebe didn't like this, so she prefer to ask him about the picture later, and in the meantime, walking up to her room and wait until the hiccups has gone. She wasn't mad at him, she just wanted to keep this kind and gentle Max. The one who gets along with his sister.

 **December 26 2014, Friday  
2:48 AM**

More than 6 hours had passed since Phoebe went to her room very quickly. Around 10 PM, Barb went to ask her if she wanted to play Monopoly with them but she found her sleeping, so she let her rest. Later, she went to Max's lair but he was sleeping too, so she got back to the living room to play with Hank, Billy and Nora. This time, every one of them won at least one time, because without Max or Phoebe taking over all the properties, the game last longer for the family.

Phoebe's hiccups disappear about 15 minutes later, but since she lay down on her bed just to see if she could get rid of it faster, she ended up sleeping there, and she wasn't able to solve her doubts about the picture. She couldn't even change her clothes.

Now, almost at 3 AM she was there, in the middle of her bed with a blanket she unconsciously used to cover herself, and with the moon's light entering through her window, lighting up her face very softly. She looked so peaceful that anyone who sees her right now would try to make as little noise as possible, trying not to wake her up.

Unexpectedly, a slightly sound of a door opening was heard, and right after it was closed again, without making any noise. Some moments later, Phoebe's bed starts pressing with the weight of an unknown person. She wasn't aware of this, until she hears a soft voice that was calling her:

"Wakey, wakey sunshine... Pheebs?"

She took some time to realize that the voice she was listening was real, so she slowly opens her eyes, and once she could finally see in the dark room, she saw Max was seated at her left, and he seemed to have the same smile he had when he gave the present to her. Obviously she wasn't expecting to see him in her room, not to mention in the middle of the night. Maybe it was just her imagination but she thought she heard Max calling her 'sunshine' but... she must be dreaming.

"Max! What are you doing here?" She asks with a low voice, as she sits on her bed, astonished after seeing her brother this close to her.

"I... I just felt you were mad at me because of the hiccups so... you know me, I don't like to fight with you so... I came here to apologize." Max explained, a little nervous.

And then, Phoebe extended her arm to light up the lamp she had on her night table, and her room was covered with a soft light, but it was enough to completely see her brother. Now she was looking directly to his eyes, all thoughtful, and trying to assimilate the words he was saying.

"You... came here to apologize? But you never do that. Is this one of your pranks?" She asked him, trying to talk as low as she could.

"One of my pranks? Uhmm... Pheebs, you've been acting weird since this morning. Are you okay?" Max asked her, without getting her question.

"I'm acting weird? You celebrated Christmas with us, you dressed as an elf, you made figgy pudding, you played Monopoly with the family and you gave me this beautiful gift." She says while pointing the pendant on her neck. "And I'm weird?" She continued saying, in an attempt of finding an answer to his strange behavior.

"But I always do that Pheebs. Are... are you sure you're okay baby?" Max replies, as he puts his right hand on her forehead, as if he wanted to know if she had fever.

But she could barely feel his hand on her forehead, because with the last word she heard coming out of his lips, she felt her heart skipped a beat, her skin was completely chill and her chocolate-brown eyes were wide open, she was in shock. He was waiting for her answer but Phoebe didn't say anything. She simply couldn't.

"Honey, are you feeling good?" Max asks her again, taking his hand from her forehead to her cheek, and she could know that the words she thought he said before weren't just her imagination.

"What did you call me?" Phoebe said, once she could get rid of her shock, rising up her voice too.

"I know, I know we promised we would take things slow but... I can't help it Pheebs." Max explained.

"What? I don't get it Max. What are you talking about?" She asks him, not knowing what he meant.

"I'm talking about... us." Max answers, taking her hand very slowly.

Phoebe's heartbeats were getting faster with every second, her cheeks were getting a slightly red color, and when she felt the contact of his hands against hers, she could barely blink. She couldn't understand what he meant when he said 'us'.

Suddenly, Phoebe took her distance and stood up on the other side of her bed. Her mind was still trying to understand what was happening, but she was still in shock. From her position she could take a better look of him, he was dressed with the clothes he used to sleep with, sweat pants, t-shirt, slippers. He probably came from his room. She kept looking at her brother as she walks to the middle of her room. He kept seated on her bed.

"Us? What do you mean with... us?" She asks very worried.

Then, Max stood up from the bed and got close to her.

"I'm talking about... our relationship Pheebs. Today is our anniversary, since the day we made a promise back in Metroburg. We will be together no matter what. Remember?" Max explained, with a serious voice.

Phoebe did not understand any of his words. She didn't know what he was talking about; obviously she would remember if she had a secret relationship with her own brother, so she stood just right there, with her eyes on the floor, motionless. Suddenly, Max walks to her and slowly takes her hands, taking her out of her thoughts, and finding his dark brown eyes in the process. He was directly looking at her eyes.

"Max?" She says, with a lower voice

"Phoebe..." He softly mutters, as he wrapped his arms around her waist, getting closer and closer.

"Max..." She answers after putting both of her hands on his chest. She was nervously trying to stop him.

Now their faces were just some inches away from each other, and Max could barely feel her sister's heartbeats against his chest. None of them could stop looking at each other, and now Phoebe was looking at his brother's lips, she never thought she would be this close, and she couldn't believe the situation she was being dragged in.

"Max... this is so wrong." She tried to tell him but she could hardly speak. "They're gonna hear us." She slowly kept saying.

"I don't care Phoebe. I love you." Max told her, as he got closer to her face.

In the blink of an eye, their lips were pressing against each other's in a warm kiss. At first, their contact was very shy and their kiss looked very sweet, but when Max took his left hand all the way to the back of her neck, little by little their tongues were passionately pressing. Phoebe's hands had stopped pushing on his chest to put him away, now they were around his neck in an attempt for bringing him closer to her, but also, intensifying their kiss with every second they spent together.

They kissed like there was no tomorrow, their lips were moving in such harmony that they could barely feel their own breaths. It was so satisfying for both of them. It was Phoebe's first kiss, and she was having it with her own twin brother. Her other half.

At that very moment, everything around them disappeared, there were only both of them in the middle of an empty room. None of them was able to think about anything else but themselves, and they didn't seemed they want this kiss to end. They were enjoying of this warm contact between their lips, especially Phoebe.

In the middle of their passion, Phoebe was able to separate of his lips, just to tell him:

"I love you Max..."

"I love you too, with all my heart..."

* * *

Suddenly, everything was covered with brilliant white light. Phoebe couldn't see anything; she didn't understand what was happening. Soon, she was all alone in an empty space. There was nothing around her. She didn't know how much time has passed, but everything around her was still in white. Right after that, everything was covered with a dense darkness, and Phoebe was having a strange feeling that kept her in a constant worry.

 **December 25 2014, Thursday  
07:12 AM**

She slowly opens her eyes and the first thing she watches is the ceiling of her room. She takes her hand to her heart just to feel the same heart beating that she felt before. And finally, she understands what was happening, everything was just a dream. Phoebe was still in shock, not believing what she just saw. Everything seemed so real for her; she couldn't accept that everything she experienced in the last 24 hours was just fictional.

It was everything she saw... Max, the snow, the figgy pudding, the Monopoly, the presents, her pendant, the kiss... everything was just a dream. At first, she suspected it but she never thought that this innocent dream would end up in an incestuous kiss with her twin. Just a minute has passed since she woke up, and she was already missing the reality that made her so happy. She slowly turns to her left and with her right hand, she tries to find the pendant that Max gave her, but there was nothing around her neck. A sad expression was drawn on her face.

She would be fooling herself if she deny that she wasn't thinking about Max right now. And as she hardly tries to remember every detail with her eyes closed, she slowly takes two of her fingers up to her lips, as if she was trying to remember the last part of her dream. But there were no lips to kiss her. As the hours pass, she will forget this dream more and more, just like any other dream, and she knew it very well.

But all of a sudden, she heard some noises at the distance. She seated on her bed, she put more attention to these sounds and she could hear something that sounded like jingle bells. Her heart was beating faster now.

She stood up from her bed really quick, put on her green boots and walks out of her room to find out where this jingle bells were coming from. When she got out of there, she sees Hank and Barb walking out of their room. She was supposing all the noise has wake them up, and they're confused just like her.

"What is this? Who's making all those noises?" She asks Barb, unknown of the situation.

"I have no idea." She replies, a little worried.

"Let's see." Hank adds, taking Barb's hand.

They keep walking through the hallway and this time, Phoebe follows them very quickly, with an awkward expression. Everything seemed so familiar for her, it was just like it happened in her dream. Soon after, she looked behind her and saw Billy and Nora walking out of their rooms to join them.

After that, she continued walking between Hank and Barb, and she finally arrives to the stairs. And as she walks down, she got shocked with what she saw there.

"Get down here sleepyheads! It's Christmas!" Max exclaims with encouragement.

Max Thunderman was next to the Christmas tree, dressed with a green suit and shaking some jingle bells as hard as he could.

"Why is Max dressed like that?" Hank asks them, a little scared for whatever his son was planning.

"I don't know." Phoebe replies, astonished with what was seeing.

"Merry Christmas my beautiful family!" He says to everyone, non stop smiling.

After watching everyone's reactions, Phoebe had realized that things were not happening like they did in her dream, this time it was reality, and even if she still thinks it was weird for Max being this way in front of them, now she was sure that things will not be like she remembers. She saw the family picture out the corner of her eyes, and it was just like always. Everything seems normal.

"Why is Max acting like that?" Barb asks them, as confused as her husband.

"I still don't know." Phoebe answers, nonstop looking at her brother.

And as she walks to the couch, Phoebe was trying to convince herself, that it wasn't just a dream, and somewhere, maybe in a parallel universe, they were still sharing that forgiven kiss, without worrying about anything. Of course, this dream would be a secret that nobody had to know.

"Maybe in another life." Phoebe thought, feeling disappointed.

The End


End file.
